City Council — January 2012

Strategy!

Voting against the 2.5% property tax increase: De Baeremaeker, Layton, Perks, Vaughan & Wong-Tam.

What I missed: Councillor Josh Colle is (very strategically) the one to make the use-surplus-to-save-services motion. http://torontocitycouncil.blogspot.com/2012/01/motion-by-councillor-josh-colle.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=

Colle probably has Luby, Lee and Pasternak's support on this, in addition to the usual suspects. So it should pass.

Everyone start thinking up punchlines for this joke: what do you call a mayor who can't pass a budget?

Assuming Pasternak, Luby and Lee support Josh Colle's motion, it'll pass 23-22.

(That's assuming one councillor doesn't accidentally miss the vote.)

Word on the street is that the mayor's team will fire back with a motion to build a giant ferris wheel in Lawrence Heights.

Lindsay Luby saw cuts to libraries are "1984 and Orwell all over again." Speaks against cuts. Applause from gallery.

Lindsay Luby says cutting back TTC routes to 2004 levels is "almost sinful." Says we're "knee jerking our way through this term."

The city is likely to have a *huge* surplus next year assuming they actually go through with locking out workers for a prolonged period.

"Let's pass [Colle's] motion. Let's build a better Toronto," says Mary-Margaret McMahon.

Doucette's motion basically asks that the High park Zoo be allowed to raise more revenue to pay for itself. http://torontocitycouncil.blogspot.com/2012/01/motion-by-councillor-sarah-doucette.html

Doucette says no one knows where the animals in High Park were to go if the zoo were closed. Matt Damon would probably take them.

Doucette says the High Park Zoo will make money by selling animal waste. Nunziata isn't buying that shit.

Karen Stintz says it hasn't been fun being TTC chair while cutting routes and service. Says more cuts are coming. She's great at this.

Council watchers should feel free to insert the word "boogeyman" whenever a Ford supporter says "streetcars."

Councillors are being careful to give Ford a face-saving narrative coming out of this meeting. The word 'tweak' is coming up a lot.

De Baeremaeker's speech is okay, but lacks props.

Nunzita, as chair, editorializes, says specks of dust add up to mountains.

Mammoliti refers to left-leaning councillors as "very well-groomed." Aw. https://torontosun.com/2012/01/17/fords-budget-poised-to-get-middle-finger

Making sizeable debt payments on an infrastructure purchase that will benefit the city for years to come? If only we had avoided this.

Home just in time for voting.

The Ford team is now attempting to get various amendments ruled out of order.

Nunziata is saying, for some reason, that Bailão can't use the extreme weather reserve as an offset to fund firefighters.

She's also trying to prevent council from voting on Doucette's motion to save the High Park Zoo.

Now voting on whether to defer Colle's mega motion. It fails 21-23.

And that's basically the ballgame.

The votes on whether to defer Colle's motion: http://twitpic.com/88k6zp

Notably against deferral: Lindsay Luby, Pasternak, Lee. Council's true middle.

Nunziata has ruled that Colle's motion be split into separate votes. She's been challenged, so council is voting on that first.

Chair overruled, 21-23. Same margin as the deferral.

Josh Colle's motion passes 23-21. Mayor Rob Ford, we hardly knew ye.

Here's the vote on whether to uphold Nunziata: http://twitpic.com/88k8vh

And here's the big vote on Colle's motion: http://twitpic.com/88k91d

That'll do.

Big smiles at Matlow's Ofice.

Here's the votes on Cho's motion to avoid further cuts to the library budget. Pasternak mysteriously left the room. http://twitpic.com/88kbev

Ah, apologies for the undue snideness.

@GraphicMatt Conflict of interest mang

Holy hell, they're even passing Mihevc motions.

Oh good. Some chanting people. Just what we needed.

Even Pam McConnell is passing motions! What a world.

Votes on McConnell's motion to preserve youth outreach programs: http://twitpic.com/88kdpc

Here's the votes on Mihevc's motion to maintain Community Animators. Looking forward to watching their cartoons. http://twitpic.com/88kf39

And here's Mary-Margaret McMahon's motions re: the Toronto Environment Office. http://twitpic.com/88kftt

Still accepting punchlines for this joke: what do you call a mayor who can't even pass his own budget?

The protestors don't seem to have correctly anticipated the outcome of this budget debate.

Topical!

@GraphicMatt "The Biggest Loser"

Punny!

@GraphicMatt One foot in the gravy?

And that'll do it. Now the mayor's office has ten months to figure out what the hell they're going to do next year.

*with* amendments.

Councillor Moeser's absence due to health reasons is excused. Thankfully, his vote (likely w/ the mayor) wouldn't have impacted much today.

More evidence today's events were well-planned: Josh Matlow's office has already pushed out a newsletter touting saved programs & services.

Most likely!

@GraphicMatt With a new budget chief?

Efficiency!

Ford, speaking at a presser, claims the mentality has changed. No one talked about efficiencies before him, he says.

Ford is very subdued. Claims the left wanted higher tax increases and didn't get them. Okay.

Ford says those who voted for Colle's motion will have to answer to their constituents. Think they already did.

The spin is that "the left" wanted $35 or $40 million from the surplus, but only got $19 million.

Ford says today was a "huge victory" after Don Peat asks if this is a loss. Says a hypothetical David Miller 2012 budget would have been bad

Tonight's City Hall news is so surprising that Stephen LeDrew is commenting on CP24 without his bowtie.